Russia Disorienting Navigation Systems in Black Sea

A recent study found some 10,000 examples of disorientation technology being used since 2016

uatv

23.04.2019

Photo Voice of America

Russia has been using disorientation technology on GPS / GNSS satellite navigation systems in the occupied Crimea and in the Black Sea.

According to a recent study by the American non-governmental organization, C4ADS, the Russian Federation has used disorientation technology some 10,000 times since February 2016, Voice of America reported.

American navigation expert Dane Howard said that until 2017 there hadn’t been any official information about Russia’s use of the technology.

“In 2017, a captain of a merchant ship in the Black Sea sent us evidence – a photo of a screen of his computer and radar, where his GPS indicated that he was not at sea, but forty kilometers away, at the local airport,” Howard said.

“In general, our study revealed more than 9,000 incidents when ships that were passing in or near Russian waters saw their location in an airport near the region where they were located. Incidents of GPS disorientation occurred in the Black Sea, as well as in the Pacific Ocean near Vladivostok and Murmansk in the north of Russia near St. Petersburg, as well as in Moscow ” C4DS researcher Thomas Iwing said.

Howard said that disorientation could be a danger to ships.

“There were experiments that showed that it is possible to change the course of the ship or machines a little and direct them where there is a desire, for example, to the territorial waters of another country, to create an international incident, or perhaps to capture people who are on board,” he said.

The expert said that by distorting GPS signals Russia unequivocally violates international norms, in particular, the rules of the International Telecommunication Union.

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